Gran Turismo Goes to Daytona

Share.

Latest on cars, modes and online play.

By IGN Staff

We tend to hear about new cars when looking at Gran Turismo, but the focus of Famitsu's latest update is on a new course. The Daytona International Speedway will be making its first appearance in the Gran Turismo series through Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, the magazine reports. Players will be able to select from the oval course and road course variations of the track.

Also revealed in this week's Famitsu are first details on a demo download for Prologue. The demo will be available in Japan on 10/20. It will include the GT-R car and and the Suzuka Circuit.

As for the final release for the game, Famitsu lists 12/13 as the big date in Japan. Sony will make the title available both as a PlayStation Network download and as a packaged Blu-ray product. The Blu-ray version will cost 4,980 yen, up slightly from the 4,500 yen of the download.

That may seem a little steep for what is ultimately a sampler for next year's Gran Turismo 5, but Polyphony really is packing in the features here. The latest update from Famitsu reveals that Prologue will include a new GT.TV mode. This gallery lets you view car television programs from throughout the world, including BBC's Top Gear and Japan's Car Graphic TV. To view these programs, you'll have to pay about 200 yen per episode. Each program will have individual settings for viewing period.

Online play is going to be one of the big selling points for GT5 Prologue. As previously announced, the game will support 16 player online races, although producer Kazunori Yamauchi admitted to the magazine that he expects difficulties when reaching that maximum amount unless all players have speedy connections.

Unfortunately, Prologue will initially have some limitations to its online mode. On launch day, the game will support Arcade Free Battle mode only, where your opponents are chosen at random. Chat and friend list functionality will be added to the game via download at a later date. Yamauchi was unwilling to give a specific date.

We should be getting our latest look at GT5 Prologue at the Tokyo Game Show tomorrow. Stay tuned for a full report.